#sidewalkghosts

“Chin up and eyes open to the world,” something I say frequently to the many people whom I meet on the streets; and, words that I have not published for far too long. A philosophy that today brings me close to two new friends, husband and wife Suresh and Anita, who within only four blocks of my home I meet while on an end of day walk to pick up a bite to eat.

I run into them through an exchange of greetings as we share curb in waiting to cross an intersection.

Hailing from India, Suresh and Anita arrived to America only three short months ago, relocating for career reasons. It’s amazing how within such a short distance of my home, and inside of my own neighborhood, can be found the greatest diversity of all faiths, ethnicities and political points of view; people who, pulling from their endless set of life histories, all have a plethora of wisdom to impart.

Suresh and Anita are two such people, and in their being new to America, I feel it a privilege to be able to welcome them as community friends. Makes me wonder how often do we pass strangers, and inadvertently, due to schedules or fears, turn away from the opportunity to expand our social horizons. And at day 296 of my 365 social experiment, I’m understanding that these special moments happen more often than we acknowledge, and have first hand witnessed that if we take hold of them, the rewards are great in growing us closer to our fellow humans.

Even the shortest of conversations can be impactful in bringing not only change to our own hearts, but in being of positive influence to the outlooks of those we associate with.

Readers, I have to thank you for your support in staying with me on this one year challenge. You are a wonderful group who I hope have been able to look past my consistent rants and ravings, and are able to find there links to the council that so many have shared with us.

I openly admit, at times I feel a bit like a broken record. It’s just after speaking with close to one thousand strangers; the idea of a closer respect for one another is getting imbedded under my skin. So bear with me, or better yet, join me in saying your daily hellos to the world around you.

So here we are, Suresh, Anita and myself, standing on a street corner, backed by the soundscape of heavy commuter traffic. It is loud and deafening, but emitting from it are occasional bursts of rolled down applauds of encouragement given by several motorist who have been looking on as we shoot photos. Yet another testament to the fact that there really are people who are engaged with one another, and from this, we are further encouraged as we speak of community.

Over the hum of said passing motorists Suresh thumbnails his perspective on humanity, “Help each other… if we help each other the whole world gets better.”

I turn to Anita for her wisdom, without pause… “Follow your heart, don’t let others direct your path. Don’t listen to others who try to spoil your life… just follow your heart.

Don’t do stuff just because of what somebody else is saying. Listen to what you feel… and do that.

It is very important to be happy. Otherwise you are always sad because somebody else asked you to do something that you did not intend to do.

So choose to be happy… and if you are happy… you can also make others happy.”

Suresh and Anita, like I mentioned, have only been in America for three months. I’m sure a huge cultural shock in relocating from India. Yet there is a glow in their eyes that says, “We are at home.”

Perhaps it may be somewhat presumptuous of me, but I think I know the core reason for that tranquility. Suresh and Anita simply care about people. For in the way they accepted me with the warm gestures they express in first meeting me, I felt of their compassion for the world around them, a world that Suresh obviously cares greatly about.

“We are using a lot of resources…” he appeals, “…it’s better to say no, than to waste any resource. They are the things that are helping us to survive. We are in risk of finishing all our natural resources. We can’t keep using them all up.”

Anita listens intently to Suresh’s plea, and although agreeing with his observation, takes time to add her own commentary on modern society. “We are getting more and more into the Internet for communication and we are losing touch with people because of video games and stuff. And, the real life of playing on the ground, especially the kids, the future generation youngsters, is getting lost. They are more into the video games and the Internet than of actual activity. They are really not moving around… interacting with people. It concerns me that interaction is going down, at least with people who are urban.”

Makes me think about how we met. Not in a viral world, not through a social network, but face to face. Walking through urban nirvana in route to getting dinner. In a world of delivered food, drive through calories and every type of store-bought frozen delight, it is comforting to know that there are people who do slow down to smell the roses (metaphorically speaking). For in the eye of the city storm, there can be found calm. A calm that transcends the noise of the pavement and can settle the most rushed of modern minds… a calm that can only be described as an appreciation of fellow-man.

And today, a calm that I am happy to say is brought to me via the outstretched welcome of my new friends, Suresh and Anita.

Welcome to the neighborhood my friends; I’m sure we’ll run into each other again!

And Anita, your are right on the mark, “If you are happy… you can also make others happy.”

It’s early Sunday morning and as expected, the sleeping in after Saturday night crowd has left the streets a bit thin of movement. And other than the coffee shop crowd and open houses of worship, people are sparse wherever I roam.

So I decide to drive the rural areas in getting out of my regular geography. And of course, the sleepier the community, the lessor the population circulates in the cool morning sun, sort of a sad finding, with such a perfect morning forming.

I cruise aimlessly, windows down, cool breeze slapping me in the face and mind open in watching the world blur by. When, in passing a small little park on the outskirts of Los Angeles County, a figure, about one hundred yards to the North of my forty mile an hour trajectory, forces me to rubber neck into a rather aggressive U-turn. Gosh! Sometimes I feel like such a stalker.

But as I absorb the g-force of my rapid course change all trepidation escapes me when a feeling of, “you are making the right choice,” enters my psyche.

I pull into the park and over the sound of welcoming dog barks, I introduce myself to Father, Husband, Human Resource Manager and Expert Downhill Mountain Bike Racer… Jim.

“You have to have fun and enjoy life… do things that you enjoy… no matter how old you are.” Jim proclaims.

“In everything that you have going on… you have to have fun.

Don’t worry about the things that are going on now, or about getting old, we have to enjoy where we are. Think about the things that we worried about five years ago, they are no big deal now. They were at the time, but you can say now that they were not that big of a deal. It took me a long time to learn that, and now I apply that to the way I react to things.

We have to learn to appreciate where we are, and to not stress about the little things in life.

In five years… hopefully the economy will be better… I don’t know. But I see a future where people are getting more aware with the challenges of pollution, issues with the earth… things like that, and hopefully that will carry on.

Looking further is tough… It’s hard to say. It seems like in the last twenty years much has changed with technology and stuff. It will be amazing the see where we will be in one hundred years… I don’t even know.

It’s going to change though. Think twenty year ago to now – cellphones, digital cameras and all the things we can’t live without. I don’t even know where to start with looking one hundred years ahead. It’s a tough question.

The question is, how much can change in one hundred years?

It’s not like we have the flying cars they said back in the sixties that we would have by the year two thousand. But, still it would be amazing to see where we will be with technology in one hundred years.

I have hope for my kids and their kids, we’ve learned a lot, and hopefully the economy will be better by then.

The advice I give my kids is to stay in school so they can rely on themselves to be professional in whatever field they choose. My daughter wants to be a doctor.”

Jim, I appreciate you openness to chat with a stranger this morning, and for your candor in the way you see the future. Many of us unite with you in calling in a better world to come. And we dream as do you, “May it be amazing.”

“All men should go bald… too many men fear what they don’t know. They will sit there… looking at themselves, doing their comb overs, trying to save their youth. But if at a younger age, they just stepped back, sheered it all off, and look at their heads that way, it would kind of get rid of their fear. And once we get rid of the fear, we can live an easier life.”

Ron and I unite in an affirmation to the sun blessed craniums of the world. Bald heads of the earth unite, and accept the skulls that we can now so confidently display. We are one, and our scalps are yours to appreciate.

Ron is a cool guy… unassuming, well-adjusted and extroverted. I feel fortunate to run into him this evening as we attend a backyard Italian dinner party thrown by a common friend of ours. It’s very refreshing, that in a yard full of people who walk in my usual circles, I find time to dine with a new acquaintance. A man who I am very proud to call friend. And to all of my friends who are reading this entry, “I still love you.”

But there is more meaning in Ron’s hair reference than meets the eye, for in it, is a statement much more powerful than vanity.

I look at is as a parable, the hair standing as the opinions of man, and the skin of the scalp being a symbol representing thy neighbor.

Defined further, once we shed our shroud of opinion (our hair), and look upon the people around us as simply other people. People who most likely have similar fears (replace loss of hair, to fear of fellow-man, judgment or whatever), we are more alike than we accept.

Ron grows his parable, “After you’ve tried shaving your head, it’s just a matter of being nice to each other. Don’t look at people as if they are doing something evil. Realize that they are doing something that is hopefully for the betterment of themselves or their families… Give them the chance.

Walk around in their shoes, I guess… And as long as there is a little bit more understanding out there… the world can be a better place.

And if I had any word to tell the people it would be to try to make the world a better place. It could be a really small thing. The small steps can make a big difference if we all do it.

I don’t understand how people can see the one side as being evil, when really they are just trying to live the way the believe.

It’s gonna get worse before it gets better. We are leaning towards kind of a breaking point. People are so diverse in their thoughts. Whether they are to the left or to the right… and that gap in the middle, which I have always rested comfortably on. It is becoming intolerant. There isn’t much to stand on because people are really feeling one way or the other.

The short-term is going to be rough. But I think sometimes it has to get really bad so you can rebuild.”

Ron, we hear you, and in the tone of solidarity, “Lets all grab our shavers and let the scalp shine…” That is metaphorically of course.

Let us fear not… Reaching out is easier than we think. Like Ron suggests, “It could be a really small thing. The small steps can make a big difference if we all do it.”

Oh man! I can’t believe it! I’m going to use the much over used Nike slogan (Hey Nike, can you throw 365 a little sponsorship money, we want to take it places).

Here we go and please forgive me, but it somehow works to support Ron’s advice.

Reach-Out…

… Just do it!

Have a great week my friend!

STILL OPEN
HOME-TO-HOME REACH-OUT: PLEASE SUBMIT (Deadline Extended to June 27)

The Home-To-Home Reach-Out is still open, Please submit your snap shots. We are up to eighteen pictures in so far. I’d love to have at least thirty pictures to publish. Your photos can truly help us to tell our story. So wherever you are… you need to know that you matter. And your courage in sharing with us a photo of the community in which you live is truly be a powerful tool in bringing us all closer together. Thanks my friends, I look forward to you submissions.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE DETAILS

5:58am, sitting next to a new friend…. as we wait for the 9:30am door opening of registration for the community centers summer arts classes that our kids will be attending.

To give you a feel for the geography, to the left of me is the entry of the center and between it and I are around ten people. To the right a line that is growing to be longer than I can count, literally wrapping the sidewall as far as I can see with a quick lean forward from my position in line.

Usually my wife does the morning wait, but this year I have become the chosen one, partially by my decision, and partially in respect to my wife for the past four years of her sitting in the folding chair that I now find myself occupying.

I’ve mentioned my friends to my left, and the length of persons to my right, but let me introduce you to our new 365 friend who I have already hinted of. To my immediate right, mother and artist, So-Ok.

And in regards to the aforementioned 5:58am arrival and the knowledge of the much later opening for class sign-up, I settle in for a morning of meaningful conversation with So-Ok. It is not often that I get to spend extended time with my new friends and I must give thanks for being able to set with a person that I consider a highlight in my 365 journeys.

Three hours I share sidewalk with So-Ok and from it I can definitely say I am a better person for breaking morning bread with her.

I ask So-Ok for her words of advice to us. Humility is an understatement in describing So-Ok as she pauses in grabbing her jacket while reflection how to answer our questions.

Jacket on, she shares three simple words, “Respect the other.”

Yet in her succinct summation there is deeper meaning, So-Ok quote, “People can become selfish and they have to begin to think not only for themselves. They need to learn to be concerned for the other people. That is what it means to not be selfish.

Relationships will never end: Spouses, friends, people and in-laws.

If you don’t now how to deal with it, you are loosing out. If we don’t think about only ourselves… we gain.

I am scared for the future. We have to be organic in the way we treat each other. What is most important is the relationship.”

As we talk, a palpable trust is forming. Perhaps it is the fact that we are both enrolling children in the same community center class, arts and crafts. Quite possibly it is the morning grogginess that has numbed our senses. Or maybe it is the fact that we are stranded together in wait and are merely entertaining one another… All thoughts that are questionable, and all are results of the pessimistic side of my brain.

Yet, what is really overpowering is the spirit I feel when speaking with my new friend So-Ok. It is palpable in her every word, and she is enveloped in peace. No pessimism here, just acceptance of another human who has meaningful thought to share. I am engrossed.

“When my kids grow up, it might be a little different…” So-Ok explains, “…like in a Sci-Fi movie…isolated… individual… The way they communicate will be different from now. I am a little sad about it.”

So-Ok references an advertising campaign that addresses the perils of irresponsible use of new technology. A series of billboards, sponsored by the Ad Council, that compare the joysticks of the virtual world to that of interacting with nature, Like the ad proves, we need to be more organic in turning away from digital facades to appreciate the real beauty of the world around us.

“Advice to the future?” So-Ok again becomes reflective. “We have to realize what the true value of life are… living with others. If you don’t lose that part, the future won’t be as difficult.”

So-Ok speaks of relationship, “If you think about living by yourself… it is so sad. I am always with my kids. And I am sad for those who are lonely… being lonely is really bad.”

And if you are lonely So-Ok offers this encouragement, “The person who is lonely has the key to open the door. If you are, do what you can to get out the house and be ready to accept that people are there to greet you. Otherwise it does not work.”

And for those of us who are not lonely, So-Ok gives us this. “It is hard to approach the lonely person, because the loneliness is based on their life and you don’t know what they have gone through. Like if someone is in depression in your family… it creates a whole depression in your family. At least that family member can try to help within your family or circle of friends.

Although we are not like a counselor who spends a lot of time to know the life of their patients, we at least need to open our hearts to those that are lonely.”

So-Ok is a compassionate and loving person, but as importantly, she is a mother of two children. “As a parent, my heart goes out for children who don’t have parents, that must be a really sad thing. It is not their choice to be here and we need to be aware of that.

I volunteer in my children’s classes and I see it in the faces of children, some are angry, some are not. We need to take care of our children.

Too many parents don’t care. Some teachers don’t care. That will carry in their character.

For me, saying I love my children is never enough. Love is the starting point. If it does not happen in the family, we should express it. Love is like water… like nutrition.

That is how my parents raise me and that is what I believe.”

HOME-TO-HOME REACH-OUT CONTINUES – PLEASE SUBMIT

The Home-To-Home Reach-Out is still open, Please submit your snap shots. We are still at fifteen pictures in so far. I’m still expecting many more than that. Your input is vital to really make this outreach impactful. So wherever you are, you matter and your photos can be part in bringing us all closer together. Thanks friends.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE DETAILS

Wherever I travelith… 365 travelith. And with my daughter in hand, tonight is no exception. It’s outdoor movie night at CSUN (California State University Northridge), and with it, our befriending way of life is simply part of our family ritual. One byproduct of 365 that I will always cherish is the positive influence it has had on my family. Sure at times it can feel burdensome.

“Great! Dad has the camera again;” or, “Should we start dinner without you?” Even the occasional resentment from any of us as I drop household responsibilities in priority to 365.

But you know what? At the end of the day, we all feel better about the world we live in, and are gaining a greater empathy and understanding for our fellow human beings. And that is worth all the gold in the world to us.

So tonight, with blankets, popcorn and camera in hand, my girl and I seek open grass in setting camp in wait of this evenings feature, “Despicable Me.”

Spot found, blankets spread and strawberry lemonade purchased, I ask the question, “Should we find our 365 friend?”

“Can we go play the game first, daddy?” my favorite girl responds.

There is no way I will let this moment pass, and after a few beanbag tosses and the consumption of character painted Twinkies, we sugar rush away from the activities. As we do, we come across our very intellectual and grounded man of the hour, stranger now friend, Lindsay, who in leaving the university library has decided to enjoy an evening of big screen animation.

In contrast to the surrealistic entertainment we are about to screen, Lindsay proclaims of a more realistic source of enlightenment.

“I’m building a website he introduces, it’s called simplesolitaryintellegent.com, and it mirrors my outlook on life.”

I checked it out and as Lindsay states, it is very much in it’s infancy of development. But young in mind or underdeveloped is not of Lindsay’s makeup, his words are impactful.

“It’s the people who are forgotten in their time who become memorable. You know, like Van Gogh, he was in an insane asylum. Their were prophets not recognized at their time…Jesus for one. And that’s what I’m trying to do.”

Lindsay is not claiming he is a self-proclaimed prophet, and absolutely is not touting himself as a Christ. What he is suggesting is that we open our minds to the greater light of reflection. He calls it, “Simple Solitary and Intelligence,” stating, “That is where it all comes from.

There are sayings: To thine own self be true… If a man can’t get along with himself, he can’t get along with others. Simple Solitary and Intelligence… That is where it all starts.”

Lindsay advises us to do what we can to keep our mind clear and uncluttered, “I try to avoid the news of the day, and too many topical things. I devote myself to intelligence in trying to gain wisdom. And, that’s what I want to promote.”

I call Lindsay realistic and enlightened, a set of titles that I am motivated to place after hearing his perspectives on what’s in store for humanity.

“In the immediate future… The next generation… times will be grim. I think America is on the descent… on the decline. Other powers will ascend, and they are not going to have any sympathy for us.” He excuses himself as he points to my daughter, “Sorry to say that.”

“No worries,” I assure him, knowing that for a nine-year old, my daughters value system and faithful outlook on the world she is approaching gives her the strength to decipher concepts with maturity beyond her years.

I know… I rather hokey and fatherly statement, and I tell you what; I have no idea of where she gets her wisdom. I guess there must have been a very enlightened Radstone century’s ago, and somehow their recessive gene has passed on to my daughter.

Lindsay quotes a source. “I remember a Nobel-laureate economist, Franco Modigliani. Thirty years ago I heard him. He was saying things are not going to be good for the coming generation. In my case he was correct. So I think more of what he said is in store for America’s future.

But for humanity… if people could be more appreciative of intelligence… if they could apply themselves to living intelligently, so that the larger problems have their roots in simple human needs…? The whole world would evolve toward greater peace and happiness.”

Simple Solitary and Intelligent… Lindsay titles it.

With it he calls us to accountability in pondering not only our own existence, but of the existence to come. And looking at my little girl, who has been patiently participation in today’s interview, I can only have one conclusion. Or better yet, a concerned prayer… “That we will all see the light and be willing to do the works to assure a better future for the children’s sake.”

I’ll jump of my metaphoric soapbox for the moment…. I’ve got a movie to catch… Roll the film.

Talk tomorrow my friends.

HOME-TO-HOME REACH-OUT CONTINUES – PLEASE SUBMIT

The Home-To-Home Reach-Out is still open, Please submit your snap shots. We are up to fifteen pictures in so far. I’m still expecting many more than that. Your input is vital to really make this outreach impactful. So wherever you are, you matter and your photos can be part in bringing us all closer together. Thanks friends.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE DETAILS

My day has been rocked by kindness, power and trust in meeting today’s friend, engineer, businessman, husband, son, father and artist, Puzant.

“’I’m Armenian, born in Syria. When I was young I wanted to be an artist after high school. I studied art in Venice, Italy, and one day my father wrote me a letter after one year of study, he said, ‘My son, you’ll be a starving artist.’ I changed my subject and studied engineering.’”

As Puzant reveals this part of his history I get my initial impression of my new friend. It’s in his eyes. For in them is seen compassion towards people and an obvious love for family blazes a capturing blend of softness and wisdom hard-earned.

“’I did well… I was pretty successful, I did not do art at all. I listened to my father’s advice… ‘Starving artist.’

Then I worked, opened a service station… I opened a garage… Then I was successful… I was very successful as a matter of fact.

I bought some land… some shops… I was OK… Right here.’”

Puzant divulges his key to success.

“Self-confidence is an important part of life… Know what you are doing.”

Yeah. Easy to say, we here it… But, by the sound of it, it looks like Puzant was provided for (well, not really). But what about us who are being persecuted, or are living in deep burden?

Trust me, I’m not pointing a finger to make any of us feel bad, or trying to be a martyr, or even the dude standing on the hill with meaningless positive affirmations. That would be so contrary to real life and the world we are living in.

The fact is, as amazing as the planet and its people can be, it is equally pressed by human acts that are terribly atrocious to absorb, let alone navigate through.

And if you are deep under the pains of the hands of oppression, perhaps Puzant’s history can shed some light and a glimmer of hope.

Sure Puzant is successful by the world’s standards. He has lived a long life, has earned a measure of success and now after eighty-years is proud to say; “I am now an artist…”

I ask Puzant about the future; yet, with the wisdom of a spiritually fed philosopher, Puzant parables the future to citing from his past.

“Every man has his own heritage… no matter what you do… you cannot take me out of my heritage and I cannot take you out of your heritage.

That is how we can go forward… We need to modernize our heritage.

Like my sculpture today… it is different than what it used to be twenty-years ago… It is more modern… It is more reflective.”

More modern… more reflective, Puzant defines a life perspective – a perspective that has not been easily gained.

“When I look back twenty… thirty years, I saw many changes in my life, but they are good changes in my life,” Puzant channels to the depth of compassion that I earlier mentioned.

“The changes that I got from my heritage as an Armenian. They massacred us… 1.5 million… and that stayed in my blood. The Turks forced us from our homeland.”

My father escaped from the massacres… he survived. My mother survived.”

Puzant’s speak of heritage, and with tears in eyes, he opens up a deeper wound, “Bad things happen in our life…” (Eye’s welling up)… Long pause… “When your father tells you that there were seven sisters and brothers killed and he was the survivor…” (The conversation becomes silent).

Puzant has experienced pain, pain that even tough he has found a place of peace and balance in life, is still part of his emotional and historical DNA. In his tears it is evident that his path has not been an easy one. And in his powerfully peaceful countenance, it is manifest that his love for family and values in respecting his heritage is well deserved.

I ask Puzant what he can share with those who are casting any judgment.

“Advice…? I hope it never happens again. Now we have the United Nations as a referee of the world. They have to say what is right or what is wrong. Not like before the first world war, 1918, 1916, 1910.”

And to support his global dream Puzant directs us towards ourselves, “I don’t know what the future is… We’re living a life that day after day we modernize ourselves.

Every day we have a new concept… a new way of doing things. That is the modernization.

I’m eighty; it is not easy to stay healthy in this country. Smog, eating, the way of life here… where fifty to sixty percent of American’s are overweigh and not healthy.”

Puzant has granted us a gamut of perspectives, from historical awareness of the lowest moments of mankind, to the courage to stay true to dreams while managing responsibilities, to advice on both physical and spiritual health, he has lifted our eyes.

“If there is one thing I’ve grown to understand…” Puzant departs, …Success does not come with money… of course it helps.

“And for now… Art makes my life happy”

HOME-TO-HOME REACH-OUT CONTINUES – PLEASE SUBMIT

The Home-To-Home Reach-Out is still open, Please submit your snap shots. We are up to fifteen pictures in so far. I’m still expecting many more than that. Your input is vital to really make this outreach impactful. So wherever you are, you matter and your photos can be part in bringing us all closer together. Thanks friends.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE DETAILS

The world is an awesome planet. I’m driving down the street and when arriving at a stop sign I notice the gentleman in the vehicle next to me is wearing a fedora that is much similar to the one I’m wearing. But even more appreciated is the warm greeting he gestures with the tip of his hat, and rolling down his window, he compliments, “Nice Hat!”

Right then and there I know this is a true neighbor of life and that it is important that we meet this man. We have a very brief car-to-car discussion and within minutes we find ourselves parked in the little baseball field just off the busy street where we first met.

It is unsolicited gesture of kindness like this that proves to me that humankind has the potential to become a gregarious and loving people, a premise that 365 has burned deeply into both my mind and heart.

Not saying that we are on path to be a global government or homogenized society. For our diversity is what makes us rich and magnificently unique. What I am say is this, that in our own communities or in our travels, do we view one another we love and acceptance, without preconceived notions of the negative, but with optimism is seeking our similarities as species human.

And tonight as I aimlessly drive, an unknown friend has done just that, reduced the size of our community with the simplest of gestures, a hat tip and a smile. And as minute as it may seem, the humble acknowledgement has brightened my day more than I can accurately express.

I’m on the receiving side of kindness today, and to tell you the truth, I needed to be here today. It is for this reason I write this with the utmost gratitude and honor for my new friends: Rom, his daughter Anne, son Tom and their young friend Yoadd.

I love this project, it has been a life changer for me; and, my dreams it that it is the same for you. It’s about real everyday people with real-life concerns and experiences. My hope is that from it none of us will ever look at the world the same.

Rom and his children are very a family, and have proven again to us the power within the realms of caring for our neighbors. Their enthusiasm for life and love of the world is evident not only in their countenance but in their literal words.

I’ve coined a phrase, “The silent majority.” In it I am referring to us, the everyday people. For after speaking with so many strangers turned friends, I am realizing that the greater population of us, “real-people,” are all saying the same thing. “We want to get along, be loved and respected for who we are and desire to know that the children will have a safe world to live in. A world with less oppression, less governmental control, and the opportunity to safely live, love and worship, as we desire. Trust me I am not trying to get political, but I just found a quote from the late Ronald Reagan. Whether you approve of his late administration or not, his thought strikes resonance. He stated this, “Government’s first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives.”

Call it a dream or not, but we are the silent majority, and we have the power to build our communities into loving safe havens. It takes not much to be effective in uplifting each other, like for me this evening. I was a little down, but through the tip of a hat from an unknown man my life became much richer. The lesson is there to be learned, and the tuition is free to all. The fee…? Only a sincere smile and a warm heart towards our neighbors. My hope, that we all receive our Master’s degree from the University of Planet Earth (UPH).

Let class begin!

Youthful Instructor Anne takes the podium.

“At school I’m part of the recycling club, and I want to tell everyone to go green.”

She describes her definition of world, “It’s called a community.” Out of the mouths of the children. We have to ask ourselves in checking our outlooks on the youth: Who is the wiser? The old… or the young? And are we listening?

Professor Tom addresses the student body.

“Always stay positive and be happy about what you have, because if everyone becomes negative… then neighbor will turn on neighbor, and the world won’t be a happy place.”

Dean Ram sets the tone for his faculty and all visiting students.

“We should never prejudge anyone, not by color, not religion, not by where we come from. Just be good people, the rest will come from self.”

Visiting student, family friend Yoadd contributes to the curriculum.

“Everyone should be happy with one another. Live life to it’s extreme because it is short… and kind of fun.”

Four distinct views, four sets of suggestions for us all to consider and four lists of concerns and advice that has become a constant within the over 1000 people who have conversed with us in 365.

We shift to the future in part two of our educational workshop.

Again instructor Anne starts the ball rolling.

“The word war will go away and everyone in the world will come together as one big family, and they will notice that no matter how someone looks or is, as long as they respect you and you respect them, we can all be like one family.”

Professor Tom concurs.

“How you look and what you do now will be less important. People will be more thinking about what you do for the whole world, not as much how important you are, but how important you are to everyone else.”

Ram looks at his faculty with loving eyes, but grounds them with a challenging mountain to overcome.

“I’m really, really scared about the level of communication between people. As of today: I love you, I miss you, I need you, is gone. Everything is texting, everything is computerized and the feelings, the emotions, are dissipating from the world. Everything is very technical and I’m really, really scared. I think in ten years it is going to be much worse. I’m afraid parents will not communicate with their kids, kids will not communicate with their friends. They barely do today. Honestly, I think it is going to get worse.”

Instructor Anne contributes to the dean’s comments.

“I see it two ways… Technology, it could be a good thing and a bad thing, like my dad said, people will talk to each other less. Like on their computer or iPad or something. That’s what makes their life… and their life evolves around that.

It is also good for contacting someone or finding someone. We are definitely going to go more green and technology will help that.

But if life totally revolves around your phone or your computer or something like that, that will mess up your life.”

Visiting student Yoadd queues in on the environment.

“Technology will definitely be more advanced, especially when it comes to saving the planet and going green.”

Something is going on right at UPH. And I must credit Dean Ram for his leadership and example to us all. Its youthful faculty is on fire in training itself, and I hope us, to be active in working towards a better future while strengthening our existing communities. Through their example and words today, I know one thing first hand.

I was tired, I was missing being home with my family and I was clueless as to where to journey to meet a friend. And at the particular moment that I let go of my self-control in submitting to whatever is to come, a hat is tipped to me. Call it fate, call it coincidence or call it anything you wish.

Whatever the cause… and trying to not be selfish, I must say, THANK YOU to my new friends, our well has been filled.

For who knew that in the parking lot of a quite little baseball in the burbs of the San Fernando Valley, I would encounter the wisdom of future leaders and the man who is planting the seeds.

And best of all, UPH is open registration with no limits to enrollment. Better yet, it courses are self-created and at will to your development. Consider today the day of orientation and with you at the center of the lecture hall, UPH permissions you, without any limitations, to open your own annex campus wherever you are.

Good luck class of 2012, we are with you.

Lest we never forget, “We are in this thing together.”